Sledge hammer

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This article was published 06/05/2017 (3282 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After losing his leg, and then his country, 16-year-old Omar Al Ziab has found his niche. In August, the Syrian refugee discovered sledge hockey and is so good at it he’s on the provincial team that will leave May 11 for the nationals in Montreal.

“I’m happy because this is exciting,” he said after practice Monday night at Seven Oaks Arena. “I want to be really good,” but he knows competition at the national level will be like nothing he’s experienced. “It’s scary. It’s going to be hard.”

But the teen who’s lost so much and didn’t know anything about ice or the English language until coming to Canada is an optimist.

“I think we are going to win,” he said.

Omar’s family is one of three who were privately sponsored by the volunteer coalition Refuge Winnipeg. They arrived in Winnipeg in October 2015.

Since August, when the St. Norbert Collegiate student was introduced to the ice sport, he’s played sledge hockey almost every Sunday at the MTS Iceplex.

“The guy’s taken off,” said his coach Bill Muloin. The supervisor for children’s leisure, recreation and life skills at the Society for Manitobans with Disabilities remembers meeting Omar for the first time at Gateway Arena late last summer.

“I’d never met him — all I knew was that he was a single amp,” said Muloin.

When Omar arrived, he found out he was missing his leg and hip, so Muloin balled up a shirt to put under Omar so he could sit up in a sled and take to the ice.

“He started skating around, and you could tell he was a natural,” Muloin said. The shirt tail tucked under him was sticking out on the ice, but it didn’t bother Omar or slow him down.

“From the smile on his face, right away I knew he was a keeper,” said Muloin. “He never gave up.”

Omar, who lost his leg and hip after he was hit by a Syrian government vehicle, has since been outfitted at the Rehabilitation Centre for Children with a proper adaptation to help him sit in the sled. Muloin said they’ve applied for a grant to get him his own sled — or razor, as it’s called — that will allow him to sit higher in it. The young athlete has a bright future, his coach said.

“The thing that is really unique about Omar is he’s only played one full season. He’s very fast. He still has to learn the concepts of the game, but his speed, alone, makes up for that,” Muloin said.

After Monday’s practice, Omar was soaked in sweat and smiling. “It was hard.” His dad moved the two blades on the bottom of his sled closer together, making it easier to turn but harder to balance and steer in a straight line, but Omar wasn’t complaining. “It’s fun. I like the game so much.” And the camaraderie of the team. “All of them are friendly,” he said after being razzed good-naturedly by his teammates — who range in age from 16 to 43 — for getting so much media attention. “They’re nice,” he insisted.

In Montreal, he’ll be away from his family for the first time and sharing a room with teammate Spencer Lambert, 16, and his dad, Richard Lambert, who marvels at how fast Omar took to the sport.

“Here’s a Syrian refugee who’s never been on the ice in his life, and we noticed his speed right away.” Omar quickly moved up from intermediate to the advanced level, Lambert said.

The 110-pound teen has no fear on the ice and is a good fit on the provincial team, said Lambert. Omar was in a “board battle” where players try to pin their opponent to the boards and get the puck. “We needed more speed, and he’s not afraid to go into the corners and check people. He just wants to go.”

Lambert thinks he understands Omar’s drive. “Now he found something he can do, and he’s in it full force.” Lambert has seen it before. “It’s like they’ve been waiting and watching, then burst out on the ice,” he said.

Omar’s success is no surprise to Frank Wynes, one of the Refuge Winnipeg volunteers who drives Omar to sledge hockey and has known the Al Ziab family since they arrived. After all the tragedy that’s happened in the teen’s life, Omar is one of the best-adjusted people Wynes said he knows.

“He has a good sense of humour and outlook on life. He’s driven to succeed.”

Lambert is not as optimistic as Omar about Manitoba’s chances of winning in Montreal. It’s their first national competition, and Manitoba is seen as an underdog with Nova Scotia against more established teams from B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, he said. Their first game at the three-day tournament is May 12 against Quebec.

The Society for Manitobans with Disabilities funds the recreational side of the sledge hockey program but not the competitive side, such as going to the nationals in Montreal. The team created Sledge Hockey Manitoba and raised money for the trip, said Lambert.

“We’re going mainly for experience. It’s the highest level of play we’ve been able to get to,” he said.

“It’s a good learning experience for him and all of us,” said Muloin, who thinks Omar is the only Syrian refugee competing in sledge hockey at the national level.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca